Studio Friday: Portfolio

"I've never put one together. I would be very interested to see and hear what everyone else has as a portfolio and what makes up one"~ Jo
This topic have brought me down memory lane -- when I was a struggling student trying to find a part time job as an artist and, during the time I graduated from College from the time I was shifting from one job to another, until the time I have worked outside my homeland. It is a story almost half of my life but, I will just tell you one story and I’ll make it short. There was one experience that I cannot forget while applying for a new job. I left home very early because of the unimaginable traffic that we always have everyday in the Philippines. When I arrived in my destination, I was surprised to find 50 or more applicants waiting to be interviewed and guess what? I was the last on the list. It was almost lunchtime when I thought was my turn to be interviewed then, suddenly the interviewer decided to take a 15 minute break. Boy, was I so disappointed and already hungry and yet, I hanged on and waited. When the 15 minutes was up, I moved my head and tried to see if I can see him from the window glass and luckily, I caught his eyes and I had right away pointed to my watch to tell that his break was over. His assistant asked me to come inside right away and after shaking the hand of my interviewer, we both sat down. He just looked at me and said nothing so I decided to put out my portfolio, gave it to him and then I started talking and non-stop. He was just looking at me all the time I have talked. He looked at my portfolio very carefully and after I have stopped talking, he just shake my hands and said, thank you for coming and my assistant will let you know in a short while and he left the room right away. I came back to where I was seated before, together with some applicants who were asked to wait also. After 15 minutes the assistant came and asked, who have this portfolio in a flowery yellow briefcase? I was asking myself, I think she was talking about me? I answered right away Yes, yes I have this brief-briefcase! Actually, I didn’t realized it is called a briefcase and, I was the only one with a flowery yellow thing where I usually put my portfolio. Then she said, Congratulations, you are hired! Wow! Anyway, since then, I have taken good care of my flowery yellow briefcase(you can see it in the picture). It has been with me for years and years and have protected my portfolio through rainy days and even dust. My portfolio? It is composed of my original CV’s, diploma, letter of commendation, references etc. and I put it nicely in a folder without plastic. There was a time I was asked to leave my original portfolio but I refused. When I have applied for a job that has something to do with my drawings and art, I brought my drawings and arranged it nicely in my moss green folder. You can see them in the first picture--and also, a brown big album with black thick pages -- that is where I am planning to arrange pictures of my drawings and paintings in the near future. The box with different colors is where I usually place my yet, to finish drawings. But you see, nowadays, all we have to do is save our portfolio in Cd’s and they’ll just look at it in the computer and yet, I also think it would depend on the interviewer etc.;.....